Knitting-machine.



No. 698,045. Patented Apr. 22, I902.

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KNITTING MAOHlNE.

(Application filed Oct. 6, 1900.)

3 Sheets-Sheet I.

(No Model.)

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No. 698,045. Patented Apr. 22, I902.

J. J. OBRIEN.

KNITTING MABHINE.

(Application filed Oct. 6, 1900.

3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES J. OBRIEN, OF'BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

KNIT TING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent Np. 698,04 5, dated April 22, 1902.

Application filed October 6, 1900- Serial No. 32,210. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES J. OBRIEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston,

' to knit by or through the revolution of a camcylinder, and for knitting stockings presenting heel and toe pouches formed by narrowing and widening the cam-cylinder had been reciprocated. In this class of machine a main thread supplied by a main-thread guide has been employed to knit the tubular parts of the stocking, as the leg and foot, andthe main 3 thread is also used while the machine is narrowing and widening to knit heels and toes, and during the knitting of heels and toes a reinforcing-thread has been introduced by an auxiliary-thread carrier, and said auxiliary thread when the toe and heel are completed has been cut off or disconnected automatically from the fabric. In this class of machine, wherein the reinforcing-thread is introduced only at the time that it is required to thicken the too or heel, it frequently happens that the reinforcing-thread, usually carried in-by the main thread, bunches or coils at its free end about the main thread, so thatwhen the reinforcing-thread arrives in position to be taken by the needles the hunch is sufficient to injure the needles or break the running thread, thus causing imperfect work.

In my efforts to overcome any liability to' injure the needles and produce perfect work I have devised means for introducing a rein-- forcing-thread at the proper times for nar-j left connected with the fabric, it remaining inside the knit web, the reinforcing-thread stretched inside the knitted fabric being broken off or removed from the knitted fabric after the same has been removed from the machine.

To control the reinforcing-thread properly during the knitting of heels and toes or while reciprocating knitting is being done, as when the cam-cylinder is being reciprocated,I find it I is necessary to provide the reinforcing-thread with a take-up, it moving with the cam-cyl: inder and acting upon the reinforcing-thread to take up the slack thread therein as the reinforcing-thread guide travels. from the extreme of its stroke to the first needle of the series of needles to be used for knitting each narrowing or widening course.

My invention therefore comprehends a knittingmachine ca pable of being revolved for tubular knitting and for being reciprocated for narrowing and widening in the production of heels and toes iniwhich an auxiliarythread guide and a take-up, to be hereinafter described, are used, the auxiliary thread guide beingput into its operative position to deliver its thread to the needles at the commencement of narrowing and being put into its inoperative position to prevent the delivery of its thread to the needles at the ending of widening, the thread, however, being'left connected with the fabric during circular knitting.

My invention may be incorporated with any circular machine adapted to knit afashioned stocking or a stocking having a heel produced by narrowing and widening.

Inasmuch as my invention relates only to the introduction of a reinforcing-thread and .its control, I have considered it unnecessary to show the main parts of aknitting-machine.

Figure 1 is a partial frontside view of a sufficient portion of acircular-knitting machine of the class described with my improvement added to enable-the same to be understood. Fig. 2 is a partial left-hand side of the machine represented in Fig. 1. Fig. 3

IOO

Fig. 4 is a detail showing the shape of the end of the controller to be used when the reinforcing-thread is to be supplied continuously to all parts of the knitted fabric.

Referring to the drawings, A represents a portion of any usual cam-cylinder to actuate a series of needles Ct, the shanks of which are located in suitable grooves of any usual or suitable needle cylinder or bed B, said cylinder having at its upper end dividing-walls b, from which the thread is drawn in making the stitch, and 0 represents a ring-like latchguard, it surrounding the upper ends of the needles.

The guard c has an opening (Z, (see dotted lines, Fig. 2,) through which is led the main thread 8, (see Fig. 1,) employed in knitting the leg and foot of the stocking, said thread coming from any suitable bobbin, (not herein shown,) located, preferably, above the machine.

From the above it will be understood that the guard 0 also performs the function of a main-thread guide.

The cam-cylinder may be provided internally with suitable cams to depress the needles for knitting, so that the hooks of the needles may take the main thread from the opening cl of the guard c.

The cam-cylinder A is surrounded externally, as herein shown, at its upper end bya ring-shaped frictional slide 1l2,which is maintained in contact with said cylinder by friction determined by a spring a, (see Fig. 4,) contained in a tubular boss a said spring surrounding the shank of the plunger 0, the face of which acts upon the outside of said slide, causing it to follow the cylinder except when the slide is arrested, as will be described. The boss a forms a part of the stand a secured to the cam-cylinder by suitable screws a so that said slide 112 may move in unison with said cylinder during circular knitting and be arrested just before said cylinder in reciprocating knitting completes each stroke in order that at the next opposite stroke of the cylinder the thread-guide described and also the reinforcing-thread carrier to be described may be maintained in proper relation to the knitting-cams in order that both the threads may be taken by the descending needles during reciprocating knit ting, a

The guard c, that it may be put out of its operative position when it is desired to remove the needle-cylinder, has its arm a connected by a screw 0 with a block 0 mounted to be turned about a suitable pivot 0 (see dotted lines, Fig. 1) in a post 0 held by a screw 0 in a stand 0 connected with said slide 112 by a suitable screw 0 The cam-cylinder has pivotally mounted on it a cam, the elbow-lever having arms 11 12, which are struck and moved, one when the circular movement of the cam-cylinder is to be changed to reciprocating motion for narrowing and widening and the other when the reciprocating movement of said cylinder is to be changed to a circular movement for tubular knitting. The cam-lever also in its movement controls and moves into and out of its operative position an auxiliary draw-down cam 8, which when in its operative position acts to depress into their operative position the needles which have been left up at the completion of widening.

The stand 0 sustains from its under side a segmental bar 115, which in the operation of the cam-cylinder during reciprocating knitting meets a projection 114 of the lever 113 at the end of each reciprocation, said projection arresting movement of the slide 112, carrying the thread-guides.

The parts so far described and referred to by letter and number are found substantially in United States Patent No. 484,610, dated October 18, 1892, and 'the cams at the interior of the cam-cylinder (not hereinshown) are and will in practice be all as provided for in said patent, the needles being drawn down to knit by stitch-cams, and the cam-cylinder may be both rotated and reciprocated for circular and for reciprocating knitting, and the needles which are to be used in each course of narrowing and widening may be controlled and put simultaneously into position to be moved and take thread and knit, all as pro vided for in said patent or as provided for in usual machines of the Scott 85 Williams class.

I will now describe my improvements, which for the sake of convenience I have representedas combined operatively upon a machine of the class referred to, premising, however, that my improvements are equally ap plicable to any usual circular-knitting machine capable of being reeiprocated for heel and toe knitting.

The post 0 referred to is shown as being surrounded in this instanceof my invention by a hub (1', having an arm (1 the hub being connected to the post by a suitable set-screw 2. The arm at is employed as a support for the reinforcing-thread guide 61*, it being represented as a short finger having a longitudinal opening 3 to receive and guide the reinforcingthread d herein represented as supplied bya proper bobbin (1, which maybe sustained in any suitable manner upon and so that it may travel with the slide 112 and the cam cylinder. As herein shown, the thread-supply is sustained on a spindle d held in the arm (i connected at one end by a screw 01 in any suitable manner with the slide 112. The reinforcing-thread d after leaving the bobbin (1 will be passed, preferably, through a suitable eye in the arm d, which may for convenience of operation be connected with the arm 0 by the screw hereinbefore described. Between the point where the reinforcing-thread enters the reinforcing-thread guide and the free end of said guide through which the reinforcing-thread is delivered to the needles when narrowing and widening are being done said thread is passed through a tension device (seeFig. 3) composed, as represented, of two spring-arms e e and then through an eye e of the takeup 6 which may be, as herein represented, a block of suitable. weight and adapted to slide up and down upon suitable guides, herein represented as composed of two like rods 6 sustained at their ends in suitable-manner in a plate 6 which may be fixed to the hub d, carried by and movable with said slide 112,.traveling with the cam-cylinder, said connection, as herein shown, being-effected by suitable set-screw, as e, inserted through a hole a in said plate.

The take-up herein represented acts continually upon the reinforcing-thread, the weight or equivalent, which may be a spring, rising under the strain on the thread as the cam-cylinder and thread-guide move in reciprocating knitting in carrying the threadguides past the end most needles used in each narrowing and widening course and while the cylinder and slide 112 complete their strokes, each stroke being of the same length for each course of narrowing andwidening, or it rises as the reinforcing-thread is carried about the 'needles notin action fornarrowing and widening and descends as the cam cylinder returns with the reinforcing-thread guide, that it may present its thread to the needles to be used in the next narrowing and widening course. i

The auxiliary-thread guide has a shank extended therefrom at-right angles, which is passed loosely through a hole in the armd the lower end of said shank receiving upon it the hubf of the armf, provided at its ends with a sleeve f containing a vertical movable pin f This pin is supposed to have its lower endreduced in diameter to form a' shoulder.

This pin is surrounded within the sleeve f by a spring f acting normallyto keep the lower end of the pin projected belowthe arm f; but this pin maybe lifted by engaging the thumb-nutf of the pin.

The shank of the reinforcing-thread guide is surrounded bya spiral spring g, which acts spring-controlled pin g, a suitable spring-surrounding said pin located in the sleeve 9 rising from the arm d saidspring acting normally to project the lower end of the pin below the path of movement of the armf, connected with the reinforcing-thread guide. The pin g may be lifted whenever it is desired to further turn or swing the reinforcingthread guide fartheraway from the needles, as when the needle-cylinder is to be withdrawn, for purposes as fully stated in said patent. 1

The movement of the arm f under theaction of the spring surrounding the threadcam-cylinder A and means for controlling the 1 needles, which are to be lifted and put out of working position and then into working position at desired times. Herein forthe purpose of putting the reinforcing thread guide (1 into its operativeposition for narrowingand widening I employ a controllerD, represented as a semicircular casting, it being supported-on a fixed part of the framework andfpartiallysurrounding the cam-cylinder, as best represented in Fig. 4. The free end of this controller has downwardly-extended toes h h,said toes being represented as narrower thanthe main body of the casting. During circular knitting-the lower end of the spring-pressed pin f meets one of the toes, as h, and rides upon the upper side of the controller and drops off the toe h at the opposite end thereof, and .as the thread-guide d is locked by the pin -gthe reinforcing-thread guide is not changed in its.

position, and it therefore occupies its inoperative position.

The reinforcing-thread guide during recip-' rocating knitting is always put into its operative position when the cam-cylinder-ismoving in the direction-to do circular knitting, and to provide for changing the reinforcingthread guide from its inoperative position into its operative position at this time lemploy near the toe h, which is met by-the pin f during circular knitting, a dogordevice .191, the same as the dog having like-number and fully represented in United States Patent No. 552,806, dated January 7,1896, said dog at the end of the last stroke made in circular knitting beingmoved by the change of position of the cam-lever 11 12, said lever be- 'ing-down cam 8, so that it may operate as provided for in Patent No. 484,610, and said leverin its continued travel meetsan-arm 188 (see Fig. 4) of the elbow-lever,also common to Patent No. 552,806, turning said lever so that its other arm 103, having an in- ICC cline, meets and turns the lever 191, causing it by its lower end to effect such change of position of the clutch mechanism, common to said patent, to insure that the cam-cylinder be reciprocated for narrowing and widening instead of rotated for circular knitting. To enable me to use the lever 191, moved as provided for in said patent, and to put the reinforcing-thread guide in its operative position, I have provided said lever with an actuator 191 the end of which by the movement of said lever 191 in the direction of the arrow w, to effect the change from circular to reciprocating knitting, is put into the ath of movement of the lower end of the pin f so that said pin in its second and each alternate course as it thereafter approaches said toe 7L2 in the direction of circular knitting strikes the said actuator 101 and the latter being stationary turns the thread-guide in the direction of the arrow thereon. in Fig. at, thus causing said pin during said second and each alternate course thereafter in the same direction to ride against the semicircular inner edge 20 of the controller D, and as the strokes in reciprocating knitting made in the direction of circular knitting are completed the pin passes beyond the too it. Dur ing the first stroke of reciprocating knitting and during all the strokes in reciprocating knitting which are opposite the direction of the strokes for circular knitting the pin f meets the toe hand rides up 011 the controller and then off the toe 7t, and during these strokes the spring 9 keeps the arm f of said reinforcing-thread guide against the pin g, or, in other words, the reinforcing-thread guide during the strokes of reciprocating knitting which are opposite in direction to that of the movement of the cam-cylinder for circular knitting is maintained in its inoperative position. During the first stroke of reciprocating knitting and each alternate stroke thereafter the reinforcing-thread guide presentsits thread to the descending needles a little in advance of the presentation of the main thread to said needles, and at each intermediate stroke the reinforcing thread guide occupies the position named as its inoperative position for circular knitting; but when the cam-cylinder in reciprocating knitting is moving in the direction of circular knitting, then in order that the said reinforcing-thread guide may be in the position to deliver its thread to the descend ing needles the delivery end of said threadguide has to be moved closer to the main thread-guide, so that the descending needles may catch both threads.

Having described one practical means for automatically changing the position of the auxiliary thread guide during reciprocating knitting, means for moving said threadguide toward the main-thread guide and holding it in such position during the strokes of reciprocating knitting made in the direction of circular knitting I desire to state that this invention is not limited to the particular means shown for effecting this change of position of the auxiliary-thread guide and instead I may employ any other usual or suitable devices for alternately movingthe auxiliary-thread guide in order that it may present its thread with the main thread as the needles descend under the action of the stitchcam to make stitches.

In the description of my invention as I have thus far given the same I have described that the auxiliary thread is knitted with the main thread into the fabric during narrowing and widening and that the thread is not disengaged from the fabric at the end of widening,but is continued connected with the fabric, so that it may be unerringly fed again to the needles whenever narrowing is to be again resumed, thus avoiding any skipping or dropping of stitches, and thereby avoiding delays, which are custcmaryin all machines wherein the reinforcing-thread is cut 011.

I desire to state that the aimiliary-thread guide may be continued in operation during the knitting of the circular part of the foot of the stocking between the toe and heel pouches, using said reinforcingthread to thicken the sole of the foot-covering portion, and it may be continued in operation to highsplice the heel of the stocking or to splice or reinforce the rear side of the leg of the stocking to the upper end thereof, and this splicing may terminate at any point in the knitting of the leg. To enable this reinforcingthread to so act throughout the foot and also, it may be, the leg, I need only to remove from the lever 191 the actuator 191 hereinbefore described, and change the shape of the toe 7t to the shape represented in Fig. 49 so that at each time during reciprocating knitting that the cam -cylinder is moving in the direction of circular knitting the pin f may enter the notch 22 atthe inner side of said toe, said pin meeting the cam h and thereafter riding against the inner circle 20 of the controller, thus causing the auxiliary-thread guide to be moved toward the main-thread guide, where it will remain during therest of that stroke of reciprocating knitting, it passing from the toe h, as hereinbefore provided for, at the end of such reciprocating stroke, and as the reinforcingthread guide occupies its operative position only during the movement of the cylinder in the direction of circular knitting it will be obvious when the loot and leg are being knitted that the said reinforcing-thread will be introduced in the fabric during one-half of each knitted course, the distance With relation to the circumference of the knitted fabric in which this reinforcing-thread may be introduced depending upon the position of the toes h and h with relation to each other.

From the description hereinbefore made it will be understood that the reinforcing-thread guide can supply its thread to the needles during that movement of the cam-cylinder which is eifectual in circular knitting only when the said threadguide has its delivery end moved toward the main-thread guide, and it will be understood thatduring circular knitting by the toe 713x, hereinbefore last de: scribed, that the said thread-guide is held in working position only during one half of the time of rotation of the cam-cylinder and that during the other half of said rotation the pin f having slid oif the toe h, enables the spring 9 to turn the thread-guide so that for the next half-rotation the thread is not delivered to the needles, and when the reinforcing-thread is not being take-n by the needles in circular knit-ting the position of the reinforcing-th read guide is such with relation to the stitch-cams carried by the cam-cylinder that the thread leading from-the end of the reinforcing-thread guide then in its inoperative position to the interior of the Work is maintained in the depressed Wave of the motion of the needles, or, in other words, is maintained just above the tops of the needles in their most depressed positions.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

1. In a circular-knitting machine adapted for circular and reciprocating knitting, the combination with the cam-cylinder of a reinforcing-thread guide outside of said cylinder to contain a reinforcing-thread and deliver it to the needles and the fabric, of a take-up located below the tops of the needles and acting on said reinforcing-thread when the latter is being knitted course after course into the fabric.

2. In a knitting-machine, the combination with a series of needles and a cam-cylinder capable of being rotated and reciprocated, a reinforcing-thread guide outside of said cylinder, means to put the delivery end of said thread-guide automatically in position to deliver'its thread to the needles to be knit into the fabric with the usual main thread during reciprocating knitting, of means to automatically turn the delivery end of the threadguide fo gthe reinforcing-thread into position in which said thread-guide will hold but not deliver its-thread to the needles to be taken andknit with the main thread, said threadguide to present said thread to the needles in knitting; means for changing the position of said reinforcing-th read guide withrelation to the main-thread guide at alternate strokes;

sition of the thread-guide between successive strokes 'in reciprocating knitting that said thread-guide may deliverits thread continuously to the needles throughout reciprocating knitting.

5. In a circular-knitting machine adapted for circular and reciprocatingknitting, a cam: cylinderhaving a support for the reinforcingthrcad, a reinforcing-thread guide movable with said cam-cylinder, means to turn said thread-guide toward the main-thread guide during eachflalternate stroke of reciprocating knitting,-and a take-up acting on said rein forcing-thread.

6. In a circular-knitting machine adapted for circularand reciprocating knitting, the combination with the cam-cylinder, and a re inforcing-thread guide to contain a reinforcing-thread and to deliver it to the fabric being knitted together with the main thread,-of a tension device acting upon said reinforcing-thread, and a take-up sustained on said thread between said tension device and the delivery end of said thread-guide.

7. In a circular-knitting machine adapted for circular and reciprocating knitting, the combination with the cam-cylinder of a'slide connected frictionally therewith and movable independently thereof and containing a mainthread guide, of a reinforcing-thread guide movable with said slide and containing a reinforcing-thread, and a take-up located below the knitting-line also movable with said'slide and cam-cylinder, said take-up acting continuously on the reinforcing-thread.

8. In a circular-knitting machine adapted for circular and reciprocating knitting, the combination with the cam-cylinder of a slide connected frictionally therewith, of a rein forcing-thread guide movable with said slide and containing a reinforcing-thread, which it guides and delivers direct to the needles, a take-up also movable with said slide and acting continuously on the reinforcing-thread, and means to guide the take-up in its movements due to the slack in said reinforcingthread. i

9. In a circular-knitting machine adapted for circular and for reciprocating knitting, a series of needles, a cam-cylinder, a mainthread guide, and a reinforcing-thread guide partaking of the movements-of the cam-cylinder in circular and in reciprocating knitting, a take-up coacting with the reinforcingthread, and means to cause said reinforcingthread to be put into its operative position during a part of each course of knitting while the cam-cylinder is being moved in the direction of circular knitting and to change its p0- sition on reverse movement thereof.

10. In a circular-knitting machine adapted for circular and reciprocating knitting, the combination with the cam-cylinder having a reinforcing-thread guide outside of said cylinder to contain a reinforcing-thread,of means to move said thread-guide that it may deliver its thread to the needles when the fabric is to be thickened, and put said reinforcing-thread guide in its inoperative position when it is desired to omit the reinforcing-thread, said thread-guideholdin g the thread unbroken between itself and the fabric, and a take-up acting as a Weight on the reinforcing-thread and occupying a position below the knittingpoint.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAMES J. OBRIEN.

Vitnesses:

GEO. W. GREGORY, EDITH M. STODDARD. 

